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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul have agreed to hold an in-person meeting “at an early date,” Seoul said Saturday, after the two used a phone call to emphasize the need for stability amid political turmoil in South Korea. The two reached a deal to coordinate their schedules for the meeting as concerns about the bilateral alliance linger in the wake of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s short-lived martial law declaration and his subsequent impeachment, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Cho said that efforts should be made to continue to maintain and develop the alliance under South Korea’s acting president, Han Duck-soo, citing phone talks between Han and U.S. President Joe Biden earlier this week. The top South Korean diplomat also underscored the need for ensuring that trilateral progress with Japan and the U.S. continues under the incoming U.S. administration, with President-elect Donald Trump set to take office on Jan. 20. In a separate statement, the State Department said Blinken had “conveyed the United States’ unwavering support for the people” of South Korea, “emphasizing the importance both nations place on democratic institutions and the rule of law.” Source link

The Australian Open will embrace one of the fastest growing sports in the world when it hosts the inaugural AO Pickleball Slam on the final weekend of next month’s tennis major with $100,000 in prize money. Invented in 1965 by a group of American friends, pickleball is a fast-paced paddle sport similar to tennis and badminton played on smaller courts using a perforated plastic ball. Interest has skyrocketed in recent years. Melbourne Park’s Court 3 will transform into pickleball central from Jan. 24-26 next year, as an international field of players compete for top honors. Source link

Honda and Nissan are considering producing vehicles in one another’s factories as part of their talks to deepen ties, Kyodo News reported on Saturday without citing sources. The report added that Honda will also consider supplying hybrid vehicles to Nissan as part of the potential merger, without mentioning the source of the information. Honda, Japan’s second-largest car company, and Nissan, its third-largest, are in talks to deepen ties with an eye on potentially setting up a holding company, according to two people familiar with the matter. One of the people said the automakers are also discussing a potential merger. A merger could create the world’s third-largest auto group by vehicle sales behind Toyota and Volkswagen, with an annual output of 7.4 million vehicles. The two automakers forged a strategic partnership in March to cooperate in electric vehicle development, but Nissan has faced ongoing financial and strategic troubles in recent months. Source link

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Congress averted a Christmastime government shutdown early Saturday after weeks of tense negotiations that went down to the wire, passing a bill to fund federal agencies through mid-March. With the midnight deadline already expired by minutes, senators dropped normal procedure to fast-track the package to a vote, halting government shutdown preparations and saving Christmas for more than 800,000 workers at risk of being sent home without pay. “It’s good news that the bipartisan approach in the end prevailed. … It’s a good outcome for America and the American people,” Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a speech on the Senate floor. Source link

London – Yuki Tsunoda will represent experience and continuity at Racing Bulls next year but, passed over for promotion, the Japanese driver looks to be running out of road at the Red Bull-owned Formula One team. A flurry of Red Bull announcements culminated on Friday with 20-year-old Isack Hadjar confirmed as Tsunoda’s teammate. The Frenchman takes the seat vacated by New Zealander Liam Lawson, who joins four-time champion Max Verstappen at the main team after Mexican Sergio Perez was dropped. Source link

WASHINGTON – In the twilight of his political career, Joe Biden is disappearing into the background even before Donald Trump returns to the White House, despite growing turmoil at home and abroad. The 82-year-old U.S. president’s silence on a battle of a government shutdown over Christmas is just the latest example of how critics say the aging leader is in office but not in power. Despite still occupying the world’s most powerful pulpit, Biden has remained virtually absent from the public debate about his noisy successor, whom he often used to brand as a threat to democracy. Source link

WASHINGTON – Nippon Steel alleges the White House had “impermissible undue influence” over a national security review of its $14.9 billion bid for U.S. Steel and threatened legal action if the deal is blocked. The accusation was made in a Dec. 17 letter, signed by counsel for Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel and seen by Reuters, to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). CFIUS, which reviews foreign acquisitions for national security risks, has a Monday deadline to approve the deal, extend the review, or recommend that President Joe Biden scuttle it. However, a possible government shutdown would pause the clock, CFIUS lawyers said. Source link

Cambodia’s influential former Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Friday that Japan would be granted visitation rights to the country’s Ream Naval Base, a facility the United States is concerned could become a military outpost for China. Chinese military vessels have been rotating through Ream since a Beijing-funded upgrade started in June 2022. Cambodia has denied reports of a secret deal with China to station its forces at the base. The upgrade came after Cambodia demolished a U.S.-built facility at the base in Sihanoukville in 2020, having declined Washington’s offer to repair it. Source link

Paris – Freed anti-whaling activist Paul Watson on Friday arrived in France after five months in detention in the Danish autonomous territory of Greenland due to an extradition demand from Japan. Watson, a 74-year-old Canadian-American, was released Tuesday after Denmark refused the Japanese extradition request over a 2010 clash with whalers. He was released after a high-profile campaign in his support. French President Emmanuel Macron had pressed Danish authorities not to extradite the campaigner, who has applied for French nationality. Source link

Damascus – Washington is scrapping a long-standing reward for the arrest of Syria’s new leader, a senior U.S. diplomat said Friday, following “positive messages” from a first meeting that included a promise to fight terrorism. Barbara Leaf, Washington’s top diplomat for the Middle East, made the comments after her meeting with Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus — the first formal mission to Syria’s capital by United States diplomats since the early days of Syria’s civil war. The lightning offensive that toppled president Bashar Assad on Dec. 8 was led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is rooted in al-Qaida’s Syria branch but has sought to moderate its image in recent years. Source link